Stirring Up Trouble
by Belle Walker
Summary: Sequel to "Keeping Promises". Kensi injures herself while defending her partner.


_Alright…due to popular demand, here is the fourth (and probably final) installment of my 'Deeks and Kensi Getting Hurt' series. I hope you all enjoy._

* * *

It never ceased to amaze them, the level of stupidity that some criminals exhibited.

And right now, this dolt was pretty high up on their idiot list. Because why on earth would anyone wait until they were in the process of being handcuffed and _then_ try to resist arrest?

Pedro Santini — chief moron suspect — flung an arm out wildly to avoid the stainless-steel cuffs that Detective Marty Deeks was determined to put on his wrists.

Deeks gritted his teeth as the suspect's arm inadvertently connected with the still-tender bullet wound in his left shoulder, and he grabbed the flailing arm in a vise-like grip.

"Ow! That hurts, man!" Santini complained obnoxiously. "Police brutality!"

"Please exercise your right to _shut up_," Deeks growled, finally snapping on the other half of the handcuffs.

"Deeks, you're bleeding." Kensi glanced at his sleeve as she re-holstered her weapon.

"Serves him right!" Santini hollered, still struggling bodily against the handcuffs. "Stupid cop! Let me go!" He kicked one foot backward, catching Deeks in the shin with a bruising blow.

Kensi winced for her partner. This guy was an idiot both for resisting arrest _and_ for hurting Deeks.

She couldn't rightly shoot the guy, but she could definitely wipe that ugly sneer off his face and shut him up for a while.

"Hey!" she addressed their suspect sharply. "You're under arrest, genius. The more you fight it, the harder it's gonna be on you!"

Now the guy kicked a foot out at _her_.

And that was just the excuse she needed.

She introduced her fist to his nose, ending his struggle with Deeks and making their arrest a whole lot easier — and a lot _quieter_.

Federal Agent Kensi Blye was no stranger to the art of effective punching…but good _lord_, her hand hurt!

In hindsight, maybe she shouldn't have hit him quite that hard. She shook out her hand and flexed her fingers, wincing at the pain in her middle knuckle.

"You alright?" Deeks questioned his partner, dragging a now whimpering Santini into the backseat of Kensi's car.

"I'm fine," she answered with a grimace that contradicted her reply. She glanced again at the small dark stain seeping through his sleeve. "And don't get your blood all over my car — I just had the inside detailed."

Deeks secured the prisoner and hopped into the front seat, the fact not lost on him that Kensi gripped the steering wheel with only her left hand while the right perched very lightly there.

He'd ask her about her hand later. Right now they had an idiot to deal with.

The ride to the boatshed was relatively peaceful, but as soon as Kensi parked the car the whining started up again. "I want a lawyer! She hit me! I'm gonna sue you guys!"

"_I_ didn't see anyone hit you," Deeks rebutted easily, pulling Pedro Santini out of the car. "Did you, Kens?"

Kensi shook her head, following the deception. "Nope, I didn't see anyone hit him, either. He must have done that to himself somehow."

"That's right," Deeks agreed with her. "You were swinging your arm around pretty hard — you could've hit _yourself_ in the face."

Kensi almost laughed at the confused look on Santini's face. She mentally moved him to the _top_ of the idiot list because now he looked like he wasn't so sure the pain in his face wasn't somehow self-inflicted.

Wow.

She was more than ready to be done with this moron.

They handed him off to Callen and Sam for an intimidating session of questioning, and in relief took a break to tend to their individual injuries.

Kensi dabbed a wet paper towel to the small bloody spot on the edge of Deeks' recovering shoulder wound.

"Do you need one of those pain pills or anything?" she asked him. "I think you've still got a couple left."

"Actually, it doesn't hurt," he answered honestly.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? You pass out from a needle for a smallpox vaccine, but a reopened bullet hole doesn't faze you?"

"Like I told you before, I didn't pass out — I _tripped_."

Kensi gave him a look that said she still didn't believe his story about that particular incident.

"You dropped like a rock," she murmured with an amused little smile, smoothing a band-aid over the torn flesh on her partner's arm to keep bacteria out.

He noticed that she was still favoring her right hand.

"You really hurt yourself, didn't you?" Deeks questioned, genuinely concerned.

"I'm alright. It's just…bruised."

Not taking her word for it, he caught her hand to have a look himself. He probed her knuckles with gentle fingers, putting experimental pressure on each joint.

When he came to the middle one she sucked in a hiss and jerked her hand back.

"Yep," he sighed. "I think you broke a knuckle."

"Don't be ridiculous," Kensi answered, unwilling to admit to injury. "I've never broken a knuckle punching any_one_ or any_thing_ before."

"There's a first time for everything."

"It's _fine_," she repeated. "I'll wrap it tonight and it'll be good as new tomorrow."

"No, we're going to wrap it right now," Deeks insisted. "Come on — I have a bandage in my desk."

His fingers closed around her good hand and she allowed him to lead her back to the bullpen to treat her injury.

Deeks wrapped her hand expertly with his stretchy Ace bandage. "How's that? Too tight?"

"It's pretty good." Kensi gave him an appreciative smile. "Thank you, partner."

He graced her with a smile himself, and after looking around to make sure nobody was watching them, he dropped a quick kiss to her lips.

But Kensi stole a second kiss, surprising them both just a little.

"Let's see how our friend Santini's interrogation went, shall we?"

Her partner grinned. "We shall."

* * *

At work early the next morning, Deeks found Kensi at the punching bags in the gym…but she was only using one hand to punch with and it wasn't her injured one.

His loaned bandage was gone from her hand and he could now see the bruise that was starting to color the knuckle.

"Morning, sunshine."

"Good morning," Kensi returned, focused on the punching bag.

Deeks watched her spar halfway with her inanimate opponent for a moment before speaking again.

"Well, on the bright side…" He couldn't help a grin even though he felt bad that she still hurt. "Looks like you probably won't be hitting _me_ very hard for a while."

"I still have a perfectly good _left_ hand," she reminded him evenly, and delivered another forceful swing to the bag to punctuate her reply.

"Yes, you do," he agreed seriously. "And we're gonna work that to our advantage."

"Our advantage?" she echoed. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, I figure if you can't _punch_ with your right hand, you probably can't _shoot_ very well with it, either."

She stopped and straightened, offended at his questioning of her skills. "I can shoot just fine, thank you very much."

"Uh-huh," he answered skeptically. "Prove it."

"Alright," she accepted the challenge. "I'll meet you at the range in five minutes."

"I'll be waiting."

Kensi changed back into her regular clothes and joined Deeks at the first lane in the shooting range.

He had a paper target all set up and waiting for her. "Alright, let's see if you can hit dot number six on Mr. Bad Guy there."

She aimed with her right hand and pulled the trigger, but her sore knuckle protested and threw her mark off by two inches.

"Mm-hmm…that's what I thought."

"Shut up," she pouted. "My hand hurts."

Deeks grinned easily, taking the weapon out of Kensi's right hand and placing it in her left. "Try again."

She huffed a sigh and reluctantly lifted the gun in her left hand, aiming for a different number.

His fingers wickedly skated up her spine just as she squeezed the trigger and she missed her mark again.

"You jerk," she accused mildly, elbowing him.

"I'm sorry," he laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. "I couldn't resist."

Kensi glared at him but unable to fully mask her amusement with his childish antics. "You do that again, and I'm gonna use this gun on something other than a sheet of paper," she warned him lightly.

"I'll behave," he promised with a grin. "Well…try to, anyway."

"That would definitely be a first," Kensi quipped, raising her firearm toward the target again with her left hand.

He stood behind her and slightly to the left as well, one arm extended parallel with hers. And though his left shoulder was still in the healing process, he held it out as steadily as ever with his hand just slightly supporting hers as she aimed the weapon at the target once again.

His arm alongside hers was completely unnecessary, as Kensi didn't need the least bit of help in holding her weapon steady or lining up a shot.

Deeks just liked the violation of her personal space, and the feel of her shoulders and back pressed against his chest and stomach.

And the fact that Kensi was allowing him this contact made it pretty clear that she must like it too.

He placed his other hand on her hip.

"Deeks…if that hand moves _anywhere_ when I pull this trigger, _I'm_ not going to be the only one here with something _broken_."

"Just relax, Fern," he said low in her ear, his grin coming through in his voice.

Kensi bit back a smirk of her own and took deliberate aim at the groin area of her paper target. She squeezed the trigger and hit her mark dead-center.

"Oooh," Deeks voiced, impressed and a little queasy at the same time. "_Painfully_ accurate."

Kensi gloated, stepping aside and handing the pistol to her partner. "Your turn. Left-handed."

Humoring her, he took aim with his left hand and fired.

And missed by three inches.

"Hah!" A laugh burst out from Kensi. "You cannot put that on me — _I_ didn't touch you!"

"It's this gun — I'm not used to it," Deeks resentfully made excuse. He handed it back to her and pulled his own beloved Beretta from the back of his jeans.

He gripped it comfortably in his left hand and fired three bullets in quick succession, creating a tight triangle of holes in the chest portion of the target.

"Wow," Kensi sobered, staring down the length of the range. "You _are_ good with your left hand."

Deeks just smiled in satisfaction and blew imaginary smoke from the end of his gun. "That's how it's done, kitten."

"Could've been a fluke," Kensi argued teasingly. "Let's see you do it again."

He shrugged. "Piece of cake." He aimed at the paper target again.

Turning the tables on him, Kensi decided to stir up a little trouble herself.

She stepped behind him, ever-so-casually slipping her fingers under the back hem of his t-shirt and touching warm flesh.

He flinched, his finger falling off the trigger. "Oh, now _you_ wanna play that game, huh?"

"Hmm?" she feigned ignorance. "I'm not doing a thing."

"No? Next you'll be telling me that's a _spider_ that's crawling across my back."

"Oh, it is," she played along, her fingers sliding smoothly along the skin under his shirt. "A big, hairy _tarantula_." And she tickled his side.

Deeks deliberately hit the safety switch on his gun at the same moment he jerked away from Kensi's questing fingers.

He didn't want to be the one to have to explain to Hetty about bullet holes in the ceiling that would match up with his gun.

He rounded on her, depositing both handguns on the narrow table before grabbing her around the waist with playful roughness.

"And you call _me_ a troublemaker," he accused, pinning her body firmly against his.

Kensi merely grinned at him, sliding her own arms around his middle. "_You_ started it."

"Yeah, I did." He gave her a sexy little smile and leaned in closer.

"_Ahem."_

They jumped apart at the sound of a staged throat-clearing in the doorway.

Nell stood there, the picture of innocence as she gazed up at them both wide-eyed.

"Um, we were just…shooting," Deeks awkwardly sputtered, thankful that their petite intruder wasn't Hetty. "Target practice…"

Nell held up two small hands, palms facing out. "I didn't see a thing."

Deeks nodded, relieved. "Right. Thank you." He retrieved his gun and disappeared out the door.

Blushing slightly, Kensi collected her own weapon, slipped past the short redhead, and silently followed her partner.

"Whew," Nell exhaled softly, giving her head a slight shake as if to rid her mind of the image of her two colleagues almost kissing.

She chose a weapon from the arsenal, replaced the used target with a new one, and brushed up on her own handgun skills.

"Okay, _that_ was embarrassing," Kensi said in a loud whisper as she and Deeks descended the stairs that led back to the bullpen.

"Embarrassing because you were _caught_, or because you were caught with _me_?"

Well, that was a stupid question. "Deeks, if I was embarrassed to be caught with _you_, I _wouldn't_ be caught with you."

He smiled easily. "Just checking."

"_You're_ the one who slunk out of there first," Kensi reminded him.

Deeks stepped off the bottom stair and turned to face her, walking backward. "I did not _slink_ — I _strode_."

"Whatever." Kensi changed topics, reaching out to poke him in the stomach. "As soon as my hand feels better, I want a target practice rematch."

Deeks faced forward again, falling back into step beside her. "You sure you can handle losing to me twice?"

Referring to their little touching game they'd engaged in back at the shooting range, she answered, "I _won't_ lose as long as you promise not to _cheat_ again."

He pretended to pout. "What — are you saying I have to keep my hands to _myself_ when you have a loaded gun?"

Kensi nodded easily. "That's _exactly_ what I'm saying."

"Well, damn…that means I'll _never_ get to touch you."

"I wouldn't say _'never'_," she refuted with a rare, suggestive little tone. "I don't _sleep_ with my gun..."

That stopped him in his tracks as he pondered the implication of her words.

Proud of herself for having rendered him momentarily speechless, Kensi tossed him a grin and continued on toward her desk.

Opening her desk drawer, she pulled out the long stretchy bandage Deeks had loaned her and proceeded to wrap her hand again.

This time she left the bandage on all day, only removing it to let her skin to breathe for a while after going home from work that evening.

Kensi sat down to the left of her partner on her couch cushion. "How's your bullet hole?"

Deeks shrugged. "Fine. How's your bruise?"

"Fine."

He chuckled softly at her outright lie and picked up her injured hand in one of his, gazing briefly at her hurt knuckle.

He asked a question that had bounced around in his brain for two days. "Why did you _punch_ Pedro Santini? I know your favorite move is a firm boot to the groin. Why a sudden fist to the nose instead?"

Kensi inhaled, her eyes also focused for a moment on her hand which rested palm-to-palm on his. "You remember the Stanley King case? When he backhanded me across the jaw and then you punched him so hard you sprained your own wrist?"

"Yeah, I remember." That was the night they'd bonded over turkey burgers and Top Model and nice cold beer.

"I've seen you hit plenty of guys before," Kensi continued quietly, raising her gaze to his face. "You've even knocked a few out-cold. But King was the _only_ time I'd ever seen you hit someone hard enough to hurt yourself in the process."

"I was defending my partner," Deeks answered softly, unable to deny the truth in her observation.

She shrugged a shoulder. "That's the same thing I was doing — defending my partner. I just hit the bad guy a little too hard like you did."

A smile appeared on his lips, easily reaching his eyes. "Kick-ass Kensi defending her guy… You do realize that's kinda sexy, right?"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, god."

"Hey…you wanna know a secret?" Deeks inquired casually.

Knowing him as well as she did, she was almost afraid to ask. "What?"

"I've got an awesome partner."

A smile split her face. "That's no secret. Public knowledge, in fact. But you know what? _I_ happen to have an awesome partner, too."

Deeks looked at her softly, his eyes reflecting the admiration and affection that he felt for her.

He still held her injured hand lightly in his and he gave his attention to it once more. He was going to make her get it x-rayed and properly treated, whether she wanted to or not.

But right now he had other ideas in mind.

His fingertips teased hers before sliding between them, and he brought the back of her hand to his lips and kissed the sore knuckle.

Such a simple little gesture, but it made her stomach flutter with butterflies.

He pressed another kiss to the inside of her wrist.

It was a good thing she was already sitting, because that kiss right there would have at the very least weakened her knees a little.

The glint of desire that darkened his blue eyes also served to paralyze her at the moment and she could do nothing but stare right back at him with shallow breath and tingling skin.

Her right hand thoroughly captured in his own, he now brought his left hand up to brush her loose hair back from her neck. A slight tilt of his head…

Her breath caught in her throat as his lips touched the pulse point at the side of her neck.

His facial stubble tickled its way up her jaw and he pressed a kiss there too.

_Oh dear god…_

His hand cupped the back of her neck, easily tilting her head to align with the invisible plane of his.

Her mouth was thirsting for his taste, but he strung her along for several more torturous seconds as his lips hovered teasingly just millimeters from hers.

"Deeks…" A whispered plea, and it was all he needed to finally end the torment.

Mouths crashed together in a kiss unlike any they'd ever shared before.

Unbridled. Passionate. _Mind-numbing_.

This time there was no resistance whatsoever as her hands planted themselves on his rock-solid chest.

She was falling backward, his weight above her a blissful force that her body was aching to reckon with.

"Should've done this a long time ago," Deeks murmured against her lips.

"Definitely," Kensi breathed happily, drinking in the taste of his mouth on hers and the feel of his hands at her sides.

And then he tickled her, stirring up trouble once again.

* * *

The End.


End file.
